Gone
by AshtreeBlasphemy
Summary: Because of the elders, Sakura and Hinata are forced to take a mission that involves going undercover in the new rumored Akatsuki. Sakura and Hinata centric hints of NxH and SxS
1. Chapter 1

**I REREAD THIS AND CRIED. JUST CRIED. IT WAS TERRIBLE. I MEAN . . . I still write like shit, but damn it's better than what I wrote back then. By the way, as you can tell, I changed the categories. I'm making this more of a Sakura and Hinata centric just because I suck at writing romances and feel like writing more about the girls. IT DOES NOT MEAN THERE WON'T BE ANY TYPE OF ROMANCE, it just means that it wn't be my main focus. Hopefully you guys don't mind D:. **

**As you can tell, I just rewrote the first chapter. Yeah, I hate what I had so far. I'm deleting the other chapters, and putting up something a bit better. Please enjoy, and don't . . . hate me for my uh . . . not so fantastic writing.**

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><p>"Tsunade, we both know that they meet the requirements for this mission. They're <em>perfect<em> for this mission." Said Hokage cringed at the fact that what the elders said was true.

They were _perfect_. Both possessed skills that were desired by many and made them unique.

Shizune's eyes frantically moved back and forth from the elders to her Hokage. It wasn't an easy decision. Assigning two chunnins this mission was giving them a death sentence. Both of them are young, but accomplished kunoichi, but what they lacked was experience. However, that didn't stop the elders from demanding these two to be given this mission.

"What kind of Hokage chooses ones close to her heart over an entire _village_ that she is responsible for?" Koharu spat, bits of spit flying from her mouth.

Tsunade clenched her right fist; knuckles were turning white and she was very close to drawing blood from her palm.

Homura took a step forward. "Tsuna—" She snapped.

"_I GET IT!_" Tsunade was out of her seat, both hands slammed on the top of her desk, which caused a few cracks to appear on the sides. Her pigtails flew as she snapped her head towards her apprentice and assistant.

"Get Haruno Sakura and Hyuuga Hinata here immediately." Shizune closed her eyes and bit her quivering lower lip. She was just hoping that she wouldn't have to hear those words.

She was gone within a few seconds, leaving behind an enraged woman, and two satisfied elders.

Homura and Koharu reassured her that she made the right decision.

"_For the village." _

"More like to save your own asses," Tsunade said aloud to no one. She took a swig from the bottle on her desk.

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><p>"THEN I CAME IN WITH MY CLONES, BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF THOSE WAVE NINJAS, AND SAVED THE TEME'S ASS!" Naruto concluded proudly, chest puffed out and a giant grin on his face.<p>

Sakura wasn't been listening to him. She heard this story every other week in different versions that made Naruto seem even more "heroic" each time. How . . . Naruto-like. Of course, it didn't surprise her. She's learned to adjust to it after a few years of being on the same team with him and such.

"Hard to believe Dickless could save the Traitor, but can't even defend himself on the training grounds," Sai stated with his fake smile. His nicknaming skills have yet to improve over the years Sakura first met him, but Traitor did define him nicely.

Not like Sasuke cared though. He'd been called worse.

"I FUCKING TOLD YOU I HAVE A DICK. A BIG ONE TOO. WANN—" He was cut off when a fist met his nose.

"Trying to eat," Sakura said, grabbing a few noodles with her chopsticks. She never did learn how to hold them correctly, but she still managed to eat, so it didn't matter. Her only problem is with eating noodles; they always slipped between the two sticks no matter how hard she pushed the two together.

Which is why she got serious whenever she ate at Ichiraku. It was her time to try and master her way of the chopsticks. Noodles were her only obstacle towards perfecting her chopstick technique.

"Sawa-chan!" Naruto whined as he gripped his nose, trying to stop the blood from flowing. Sakura ignored him as she continued to play with her chopsticks.

"I think she hit you because you were lying. You can't possibly show us something you don't have, Dickless." She glared at Sai, not sure whether or not he was joking or not.

"Shut up, Sai. You don't know what you're talking about. Let's just eat in peace." Next to her, Sasuke grunted in agreement. They still weren't very talkative with each other, but they had their moments where they both needed the other two on their team to shut up.

Actually, Sakura barely saw her team now that she worked full time at the hospital. After the war, the nurses and doctors agreed that they needed to be more prepared. Since then, anyone who wasn't working on a patient or paperwork would be working on new antidotes for poisons they found during the war. They had been successful with around twenty seven so far, and were working for thirty by the end of this month.

Despite her busy schedule, Naruto always found a way to convince her to take a break and train or eat with Team 7. He'd always say that "Sai is too clueless about things to actually have a conversation with," or "The bastard is moping under a rock and I can't get him out."

She knew they were just excuses to get her to come spend time with her team, but didn't see the harm in seeing her teammates every now and then. She can teach Sai more about manners and such, while she brings Sasuke up to date about the happenings in her life, not ilke he cares though.

"Hag, are you on your menstrual cycle?" She twitched.

"Excuse me?" Sai tilted his head, a concerned look on his face.

"If you are, please say so. That way, I'll be able to avoid any injuries." Sakura broke her chopsticks in half.

"Who told you this, Sai?" She already had a good idea of who it was, but she just wanted to make sure. She glanced at Naruto who was currently fidgeting; he clasped his hands together and whispered a quiet prayer. Sakura glared.

'He'd better pray,' she thought.

Sai opened his mouth, but was cut off by an oink.

"Tonton?" Sakura walked over to the pig, and crouched in front of her, petting the top of her head. "What are you doing here?" she lifted the pig into her arms, cradling it's plushy body that she had come to love cuddling with.

"There you are!" Sakura lifted her head to see Shizune.

"You looking for her?" Sakura nodded her head to Tonton, but Shizune shook her head.

"Actually, we were looking for _you_. Tonton just happened to find you first." Sakura raised her eyebrows.

"Me?"

"Tsunade-sama requests your presence. Now." With that, Tonton and Shizune vanished.

"Looks like she's in a hurry," Naruto said; his nose finally stopped bleeding, but the bridge of it was already turning purple. He'll live though. Sakura had given him worse, much MUCH worse.

She pulled out a few bills and placed them on the counter next to her half-eaten bowl of ramen.

"Duty calls. See you." And she was gone.

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><p>Hinata walked towards the Hokage tower. Shizune had ran over, hair disorganized and wrinkles in her dress, stating that she was summoned by their Hokage, and disappeared before she could even ask why.<p>

But she was glad Shizune came when she did. Her father was giving her another lecture about her strength levels compared to her younger sister. She sat there, her feet falling asleep, hands folded on her lap, completely silent, and listened.

He called her weak in every single possible way he could within five minutes, a new record. She held her ground though, not even letting a tear drop, and she was proud. She didn't show that she could be broken that easily anymore.

It's not like she could argue back with him either because everything he said was true. She was nothing compared to her younger sister or anybody for that matter.

She didn't have an unlimited amount of stamina like Naruto or Kiba, she didn't have perfect chakra control like Sakura, she didn't have an IQ of 200 like Shikamaru, and she most definitely did not have enough technique to master the more complicated attacks of the Hyuuga clan like Neji or Hanabi.

Hinata sighed. Lowering her self-esteem wasn't going to do her any good when she was already as weak as can be.

She could hear Kiba nagging her in the back of her head.

"If you're positive, you're more than likely to succeed!" Hinata always wondered where he would get all that energy from. It's probably why she envied him and Naruto for being able to be so happy all the time.

Naruto. It felt like months, no, years since she confessed to him. All he did was thank her and flashed her a smile that showed off those pearly whites.

Since then, they hadn't exactly _talked_. They had seen each other around in the village. Despite its huge size, most ninjas visit the same places: training grounds, restaurants, weapon stores, Hokage tower, and so on. However, whenever they did meet, he'd just smile and run off before Hinata could faint or blush.

So he pretty much ran at the speed of light.

Sometimes, she regretted even admitting her feelings to him, but other times, she patted herself on the back for confessing her love to him. Even though they didn't talk anymore, Hinata proved to herself (and Naruto) that she had the guts to speak her mind, voice out opinions, and express her feelings. Plus, she felt like her shoulders were lighter than before.

It might've been a relief for her, but it still hurt to see her crush of FOREVER run just at the sight of her. He must've thought she was weird or something, which hurt her even more. She thought that he out of all the people in this village would accept her feelings and move on and NOT avoid her like the plague. Then again, Hinata has been wrong before, but she was just _so _sure about this—_him_.

Her life was just a wreck. Love life was a wreck, her life at home was a wreck, her ninja life was a wreck, EVERYTHING was a wreck.

'Oh Kami-sama, what did I ever do to you?' she always wondered. As expected, silence answered her, but she just thought that He was doing this all for a reason. Maybe all this would actually do some good for her in the future.

She hasn't been proven right . . . yet. She still had hope, very little of it though.

Hinata climbed up the steps to the top floor. She was pretty curious why she was summoned.

She was one of the weakest chunnins this village had to offer, and the only missions she had been giving were to top-ranked jounin and anbu with an exception of a very few experienced chunnin. Also, she was only given missions when she is with her team or assigned a large group that needs the Byakugan.

If it was any clan business, she'd most likely call her father, Neji, or Hanabi, but surely _not_ her. She didn't have that confident, intimidating aura that every Hyuuga had to start a meeting. And she still had that fainting problem whenever she was forced to speak in front of big crowds, which she rarely did anymore because of said problem.

She made her way in front of the wooden door, fist raised, ready to knock when the door opened.

"Come in, Hinata." There stood Sakura, who opened the door, and Tsunade behind her desk.

'Are those new cracks?' Hinata thought, glancing at the deep cracks near the sides of the desk.

She stepped forward and stood next to Sakura, who also seemed confused as to why she was there.

"The reason I have called both of you here today, is to give you a mission." Hinata's ears perked at the sound of the word _mission_, while her companion's emerald eyes hardened at the word.

"It's rumored that there is another . . . group of the Akatsuki that is rising." Gasps escaped Hinata and Sakura's lips. Tsunade quickly said, "Don't interrupt me. Wait til the end." Mouths were shut.

"We're not sure if it's the same members brought back from the dead like what Kabuto did with his Edo Tensei. However, we're almost sure that this new group is on the move, but not sure what they're trying to achieve. This is where you two come in." The two kunoichi stiffened, scared for what's to come next.

"To put it in the simplest of terms, you two need to join the organization and destroy it from the inside before it becomes strong." Hinata felt her knees buckle underneath her, the familiar feeling of blood rushing to her head, but she ignored it, forcing herself to keep conscious and continue standing. Sakura let out shaky breathes, hands shaking at her side. She had witnessed a bit of the Akatsuki's methods of getting what they want, and it wasn't something she wanted to see or experience again.

"It was the elders," Tsunade said in a hushed whisper, "I tried. I really did. I'm so sorry." The two girls looked up to see their Hokage, one of the Sannin known for her strong will and even stronger punches, quietly sobbing.

"I didn't want anyone to take this, especially two of our younger ninjas, but I couldn't win that argument," She paused, "I'm sorry."

Tsunade stared at the two girls, expecting a reaction out of them, but they stood in front of her, stiff, not moving, and not a hint of emotion on their faces.

It's not that she doubted their skills. Hell, one of them was her apprentice that was extremely close to surpassing her any day now. It's because they had just won a horrific war, they had seen more deaths than an average ninja sees in a lifetime, they had seen things that Tsunade never wanted younger generations to witness, and yet here she was, sending them back out there.

They could possibly die without even coming close to succeeding, but obviously, the Elders don't care. They never gave a shit about anything except for themselves. The Uchiha Massacre was proof enough. It was a wonder to the Hokage why she hadn't allowed the Uchiha brat to take them out yet.

"When do we leave?" she heard her apprentice ask. She smiled.

_Never falter when given a mission. You take it without question._

She had taught her that on her first day of training. It was good to know that her apprentice still remembered that far back into their past together.

"Early tomorrow morning." Silence.

"A-Are there anymore d-d-details we s-should know?" The Hyuuga was learning to stutter less. Quite an improvement over the years.

"All in this scroll." Tsunade offered it to her, and pale, shaking hands took it.

"I expect to hear from you in a week. If not a week, then as soon as possible. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am." The two girls shuffled out of her room, leaving the Hokage alone in her office. Shizune appeared with Tonton in her arms.

"Your sake, Tsunade-sama."

"I'm gonna need more." It was going to be a long night.

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><p><strong>I'll edit tomorrow. Too tired. Lazy. Yeah. Please tell me what you think! I know this needs a lot of help^.<strong>

**Just in case you got confused: Sakura's main issue is bonding with her team; she's sorta drifting away and her relationship with Sasuke is sorta in the gutters at the moment. Hinata's is just everything. Her confession backfired and her father's hating on her more than ever.**

**Thanks for reading. **


	2. Chapter 2

**To Ms. hinahyu94  
>I'm so glad you liked it :'D Your request for Sakura-Hinata friendship bonding is ABSOLUTELY GONNA HAPPEN. I'm so glad you're curious of what's to come next. Oh god, even I don't know what's gonna happen next. I write as I go LOL.<strong>

So I didn't edit again . . . sorry. Point out any mistakes if you see any. Hopefully I didn't make that big of mistakes.

**And hinahyu94 wanted me to list pairings? **

**I'll just repeat what I said last chapter; even though the category doesn't say it, I AM going to include hints of romance. Probably NarutoxHinata and SasukexSakura, but I'm willing to add in any hints of other relationships. **

**Please enjoy my not-so-great writing.**

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><p>"What did Tsunade-sama want?" She had one foot in the door and the other outside. She didn't even have time to breathe without being nagged, questioned, or bashed on in this house.<p>

"A mission." Hiashi's frown deepened, forming more wrinkles on his face.

"With your team?" Hinata shook her head.

"With Sakura-san." That got his attention.

Hinata placed her shoes neatly on the mat. She walked past her father, not in the mood to have all her flaws pointed out for the second time that day.

He didn't react. He simply stood there and stared at the retreating back of his eldest daughter.

'She actually received a mission,' he thought. He went back to his seat and sipped his warm tea.

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><p>Her footsteps echoed in the long, white hallways. Nurses spared her hellos and heys, while others spared her glances of acknowledgement. You'd think she'd get more respect for proving her worth as being one of the best medic nins in the village, and perhaps the whole fire country. Universe, maybe?<p>

"Haruno-san, you have a visitor." She didn't even need to ask who because she already knew who it was.

She opened the door to her office, and saw her guess was right. However, the nurse lied about having _a_ visitor cause she saw _three_ people crowded in the small room.

"And to what do I owe this pleasant surprise?" Her voice was laced with sarcasm as she slipped out of her white lab coat and threw the clipboard onto her cabinet since it was the only place that she could actually put the damn thing.

"What did baa-chan want, Sakura-chan?" Naruto popped up from behind her huge stacks of paperwork.

Sakura didn't respond. There were many risks in telling her team that she got a mission.

They could:

1. Bug the shit out of her mentor and have themselves added onto the mission.

2. Leave the village despite the Hokage's orders and follow her.

3. Do something worse than 1 and 2.

It is because she considered all these options and answered the way she did.

"Just wanted to ask me about the situation on a new vaccine we're working on." Naruto stuck out a tongue, obviously not interested in continuing the conversation about medicine. He always hated needles.

To change the subject, Naruto began rambling about his new idea for making ramen quicker and more efficient. Sai commented a few times, pointing out a few errors here and there, while Sasuke snorted at his idea.

Sakura sat back and watched her teammates interact. She felt her smile falter when she noticed she wouldn't see them for a while after this.

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><p>"Nee-sama, your teammates are here!" Hanabi's voice called out from behind her door.<p>

Hinata pushed herself off her bed, and made her way outside to the training area her compound had to offer. From the looks of it, Hanabi and Neji did a number on it with the scattered kunai and shuriken, and random holes in the ground.

"Yo, Hinata! What's shakin'?" Kiba waved at her with his free hand while the other scratched Akamaru behind the ears. Shino stood to his right, nodding at her.

"Hello, Kiba-kun, Shino-kun." Hinata had stopped her stuttering around her teammates. Another thing she was extremely proud of. Kiba had helped her every day before their training sessions. Anytime she stuttered, he or Akamaru would tackle her or do it later when she least expected it.

At one point, she accidentally stuttered her greeting that morning at the training grounds and physically prepared herself to come in contact with the ground, but found herself still standing upright. She gave Kiba a confused look, but he was wrestling with Akamaru. Hinata thought she was lucky enough to not be heard, but was proven wrong when she was suddenly attacked later that day.

She was walking through the village, heading down the street to buy some apples from the kind, old man who always gave her a toothless smile. She was turning at a corner when two giant paws pushed her, face first to the ground.

She was pulled up onto her feet by Kiba, who was currently laughing his ass off at her.

"You should've seen your face, Hinata!" He clapped a hand onto her shoulder, and walked her to the store and back home. All the while, Hinata was trying to spit out the specks of dirt that ended up in her mouth and wiping off the dirt on her cheeks and bangs.

From that day on, Hinata always practiced what she wanted to say in her head BEFORE she actually said it. And she had Kiba to thank for that. Oh, can't forget Akamaru.

"Shall we go?" Shino asked. He didn't wait for an answer; he was already walking towards the exit.

Kiba climbed on Akamaru, and they caught up to him. Hinata jogged up to them.

They were on their way to visit their old teacher and her adorable son that they had learned to spoil. Kiba brought toys of all sorts whenever he volunteered to babysit. Shino shared his extensive knowledge of nature with him, taking him everywhere: parks, fields, forests. Hinata stuffed him with all kinds of foods, sweets, and drinks. Anytime she learned a new recipe, she'd bring him dozens of servings that would last him a week.

Kurenai nagged at them, demanding they'd stop spoiling her child, but they ignored her and continued to bring gifts for him.

However, today, they were going empty-handed. Today was their team's anniversary for their first mission together. It was tradition that they'd gather at their former sensei's house, where she'd supply food and drinks.

Hinata didn't know about Kiba or Shino, but she hadn't seen her teacher for a long time now. The last time she went was a few months ago with Shino when they visited her to make sure she was okay. Apparently, she had caught a cold, and was stuck in bed for a few weeks, and she had Shizune babysit.

After that, visiting Kurenai slipped from her mind. She was too busy sulking, attempting to get stronger, and get some guts to talk to the love of her life. Unfortunately, she failed in both tasks.

Hinata had to admit she felt absolutely guilty; her reasons for not seeing the woman who was like a mother to her were pretty pathetic.

She hoped that she'd make up for her past absences with this visit.

This would be the last time she'd be with her team in a while. She should make it count.

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><p>"You ready?" Sakura gripped the strap of her bag tightly. The day passed by too quickly. First, she was in her office, chatting away. Then she was at Ichiraku's again, testing out her new theory of eating noodles with ease which completely and utterly failed. Next, she was at home, packing.<p>

Now, she was at the gates with Hinata, ready to leave any minute now.

Hinata was skimming over the scroll, planning what they should do first and where they should go.

"I-I think heading towards L-Lightening would b-be best." Sakura nodded.

And they were off.

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><p>The average time it usually took to get to Lightening was around a couple of weeks; that is . . . for the average civilian.<p>

Sakura calculated if she and Hinata put a bit more chakra into their travels each day, they'd be able to make it into the Land of Hot Water in 3-4 days, then the Land of Frost in 2, and then make it into Kumogakure after 3 days.

They were already near the border of Fire and Hot Water. Just a day or two more.

But, Sakura could already feel herself running out of energy. She noticed Hinata was starting to slow down as well. They would take a break, but that would waste time and their target would move. They weren't even sure if they were heading in the right direction.

Sakura glanced back to see Hinata nodding off. She bit her lip and turned her attention to the next branch she was about to jump off.

Sakura wondered what would happen in Lightening. Hyuugas and the Land of Lightening never sounded nice together in the same sentence. Nowadays, Hyuugas easily intimidated Lightening ninja with what Naruto had deemed the "Hyuuga look", but Hinata was a different case. A lot of people could take advantage of her shy, timid personality.

It's not that Sakura thought Hinata couldn't handle herself though. Of course not, she had the utmost faith that Hinata could beat the shit outta people when she wanted to. It's just that she couldn't help but worry.

She looked back again and sighed. At that moment, she decided to just wait and see what would happen when they got there.

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><p>The Land of Hot Water was famous for their springs. Every girl in Konoha gossiped and dreamed about taking a dip in one of the springs this land had to offer.<p>

Now that Hinata and Sakura had that opportunity, they couldn't help but take it.

Yes, this was a serious mission that was not meant to be put off, but they were planning to get some rest anyways, so why not at the hot springs? They'd stay a night, and leave in the morning. They both agreed on it.

Sakura slipped in, and Hinata sat on the rocks, dipping her feet in.

"Oh god, this feels amazing," Sakura moaned, lowering her body into the water. The temperature was perfect and the smooth rocks made it even better.

"I-If only we could s-s-stay for a little longer," Hinata said. She was now in the water, head leaning on the rocks. She felt like all her worries were slipping away. The only things that mattered at the moment were her and the springs.

"Yeah," Sakura chimed, "It'd be nice if we had the whole group here."

"H-How is your t-t-team, Sakura-san?" Hinata couldn't avoid the fact that she was curious how Naruto was doing. She hadn't seen him in what seemed like months.

Hinata even saw Sasuke randomly roaming the streets with a bag of tomatoes in hand. They had conversations too!

"_S-Sasuke-san! How a-are you?" _

"_Hn."_

"_I-I'll see y-y-you later then." _

"_Hn." _

Not her favorite person to have a conversation with, but it was better than her situation with Naruto.

"They're . . . still crazy." Sakura didn't know how to answer the question. She never hung out with her team, and wasn't as close with them as she should be.

Hinata noticed Sakura's frustrated face, and was about to change the subject when Sakura opened her mouth.

"I actually don't know. I haven't been hanging with them that much." Sakura noticed Hinata's concerned look.

"W-we're not on bad terms though," Sakura quickly added.

"It's just that I'm too busy with the hospital that I rarely get to see them." She paused. "I envy you and your team's relationship." Hinata blushed.

"T-thank you." Silence.

* * *

><p>They were pushing themselves off of no hours of sleep to get to Shimagakure by nightfall. The last time they had actually slept in a bed was in the Land of Hot Springs.<p>

Sakura had tried entering a few towns to find a suitable resting area for the two of them, but came back unsuccessful. All the inns were taken by travelers that would be staying in there for at least a week, waiting for the blizzard to pass. Therefore, Hinata and Sakura had to use bit of their chakra to keep themselves warm and keep going through the blizzard, which drained their energy faster.

Hinata used her Byakugan hours earlier, stating that Shimagakure was a few miles away. A few miles usually took an hour or so, but all the snow was slowing them down.

The winds were also getting stronger by the minute. It forced them to align themselves one in front of the other. They decided to have Hinata lead since she could see which way the village was, and from behind, Sakura would steady her when the winds managed to knock her of her feet.

Occasionally, they would have to duck to barely avoid the random blocks of ice flying at them.

Sakura could feel Hinata losing her strength trying to navigate their way through the blizzard by constantly using her Byakugan. She put more of her chakra into her hands and pushed on her back to keep her going.

She knew that simply pumping her chakra into the girl wasn't going to be enough. She needed to get her attention too. Sakura knew Hinata was close to falling asleep from chakra exhaustion, but falling asleep in the middle of a blizzard wasn't going to help anybody.

"Hinata! How is Kurenai doing?" Sakura suddenly shouted.

Hinata's eyes flew open at the name of her sensei. She saw Sakura's struggling face, trying to keep her standing and awake out of the corner of her eyes. That's when she understood what the medic-nin was trying to do.

"She's doing fine! Her son is healthy too!" Hinata replied. She was now wide awake and able to hold a bit more of her own weight.

"How old is he again?"

"Almost a year and a half!" Hinata smiled.

They continued to talk about Kurenai and her son. It was all they talked about until they reached Shimagakure.

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><p><strong>Not my best. I know it's pretty . . .er snippy? yeah. I just wanted to capture the most "important-bonding" moments of their little adventure to Lightening. Please let me know what you think, and what I can improve on. I'm editting this thing a bit later too . . . Jesus, I'm too lazy. <strong>

**THANKS FOR READING.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Not so sure how you'll react to this chapter. Hopefully you'll like it? Tell me if you see any mistakes!**_  
><em>

**Happy Reading~**

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><p><em>16+22^; 13+52^; 1 and 2<br>S & H_

Sakura folded the message and tucked it in neatly into the pouch. She petted the hawk's head and then held her arm up, signaling for it to take its leave.

She watched the bird fly away with her and Hinata's current location and the direction they were heading. She had coded it based on a method Tsunade had taught her after 5 months into her training.

It was what she called the "Digital Root" system **(1)**. One would find the digital root of one number by adding the numbers that formed it. Since the coordinates were of double digits, she used the + sign as a sign to put the two numbers together.

In her note, she had secretly written that their current coordinates were 74 and 47. The last part she had written in the note meant northeast. There wasn't much code behind the direction though. That part just related to numbers on a clock. 12, 3, 6, and 9 represented the four main directions on a compass, and the other numbers in between were the four other directions.

Simple, but most people couldn't decipher it for some reason unknown to Sakura.

"S-Sakura-san, I t-t-think we should p-put on our d-disguises." Hinata walked into the hotel room and held out the medic's bag.

"Alright, thanks, Hinata." Sakura took the bag from her hands, and gave an awkward smile.

It was a bit strange to Sakura that Hinata used honorifics with her, yet Sakura simply called her "Hinata." Was she being too rude? Or was Hinata just being polite? Sakura felt like it was the first. It's true that they weren't complete strangers toward each other, but they weren't the best of friends like she and Ino were. From what she knew, Hinata was only close with her team and maybe her family. She wasn't sure about her family, but Kiba, Shino, and Kurenai were definitely the closest to her.

She had told Hinata at the hot springs, but she just couldn't help but feel jealous about the relationship her team had. It was something she wanted with her _own_ team. However, there was an obstacle in the way of achieving that close bond she craved, and ironically, it was her.

Ever since Sasuke had returned, she hadn't tried approaching him once; besides the time he was unconscious in the ER where she basically led the operation for his life, but that was it. She even stopped seeing Naruto and Sai as much because they spent most of their time hanging with Sasuke.

She had convinced herself and perhaps Sai that she was busy with the new vaccines and antidotes, but Naruto knew she was avoiding their old teammate. He had confronted her at one point about it in her office, and Sakura was choking over her own words. Luckily, she was saved by a call to surgery.

But after hearing what Naruto had to say, she knew she had to at least stop by to say hi or welcome back. Fortunately, she eventually did, but it was Naruto who had set up the meeting. She forced herself to go meet her team at the training grounds with a big smile plastered on her face. Sai greeted her with his "creative" nicknames, Naruto attacked her, exclaiming it had been forever since he had seen her, and Kakashi patted her head.

Sakura walked over to the tree Sasuke was leaning on and smiled. He spared her glance and grunted, flicking his head to a different direction to give his full attention to a flower in the distance. She felt the right corner of her mouth twitch in annoyance, but ignored the urge to drive her fist into his nicely sculpted face. Wanting to make it less awkward, she tried starting a conversation about how he was and if he was adjusting well to Konoha, but all she received were Aa's and Hn's.

After useless attempts to talk to her teammate, she gave up and talked with Sai about his current issue, determining the different kinds of love people had for each other. Sakura couldn't help but laugh at how their conversation ended.

"_So tongue can't be used in kisses between a child and their parent?" _

Where did all these questions come from? It was a question Sakura always asked herself after talking with Sai.

Sakura sat down on the ground and pulled out dark red washable dye and a pack of brown contacts. Hinata was probably dying her hair blonde right now. Sakura couldn't help but laugh at the color Hinata had got in the end.

When they were in Shimagakure, the girls knew they would have to undergo disguises sometime soon. As the mission scroll had said, they weren't supposed to be figured out; at least, during the first phase which was researching and gathering information about the new Akatsuki. If the other countries figured out what they were doing, chaos would erupt, specifically towards their Hokage even though this mission was brought up by the Council. Tsunade had specifically stated in the scroll that if the other nations figured out about the mission, the kages would have to go through another big discussion that would not have an end to it; then, the rumored Akatsuki would already have gathered power, and start another war. Also, just because they were on a mission that couldn't be generalized in one area, it didn't mean Tsunade wouldn't be sending out other ninjas for their own missions who included their own teammates and friends.

The scroll had contained two syringes that would last around month or so once injected to eliminate their chakra presence. Inside the scroll were instructions for Sakura on how to make the vials again, if and when needed. Sometime soon, Sakura would need to memorize these instructions, summon the syringes, and burn the scroll so no one could get a hold of it.

But anyways, they were shopping for different dyes and contacts in their henges. Sakura managed to find the color she wanted, a dark red shade which was also the last in stock. However, Hinata was not as lucky because the only available colors the store had to offer were blonde and pink.

Hinata would have tried to find a different store to find the black dye she wanted, but _this_ was the only store that even sold hair dyes. Sakura couldn't help but laugh as Hinata hesitantly picked up the box of blonde dye.

Sakura picked out hazel contacts for Hinata, saying that it would look nice with blonde.

The expression Hinata's face held when she figured out she would have to go blonde was something Sakura would never forget.

The pink-haired girl stepped into the bathroom, ready to undergo a new look.

* * *

><p>Hinata couldn't help but gawk at her reflection in the water. She looked completely different, and was probably not going to adjust to the new look anytime soon.<p>

She was now Kimura Sonomi, traveling alongside her distant cousin, Mori Tomoyo, venturing through different lands before they would settle down in Rice Country like their family wanted. Sakura described it as their "last hurrah."

They were originally going to go with a story where they were travelling civilian doctors, but it would probably bring unnecessary attention to them while they gathered information. It was already bad enough for Hinata they were in Lightening Country, a place where her clan wasn't very appreciated. Luckily, she didn't have her well-known white eyes out in the open for others to take note of.

Then again, just hearing the word Lightening made Hinata feel uncomfortable. Disguise or not, Hinata was still a Hyuuga, and couldn't help but bite her lip whenever she passed by a Lightening ninja.

She had to keep in mind though that if she slipped up that her life as well as Sakura's, Tsunade's, and the Council would be threatened. Not that she really cared about the Council since what they did to the Uchiha Clan was announced to a number of the ninja in the village.

In the end, Hinata noticed that most of the pressure was on her while their mission took place in Lightening. If she revealed their true identities while in Lightening, the Raikage would be furious with them and Tsunade which could possibly mess up their current peace contract with all the five nations. It seemed that Hinata wasn't the only one to notice this; earlier, Sakura had reassured her that if she had any troubles during this mission, she would rearrange their plan where Sakura would go get information while Hinata went searching outside of towns.

Although it was tempting, Hinata declined, stating that she didn't want to mess up their plans. Sakura simply nodded and went back to tend to the fire.

Neji's voice rang in her head.

_You need to learn to adjust to the situation, Hinata-sama. Not everything is going to be your preference._

She remembered he was lecturing her on their way back from her first seduction mission. It was obviously something she had been dreading for years and tried to escape, but Tsunade couldn't escape the elder's demands. The Council had this rule where each kunoichi would take a seduction mission after their 15th birthday. It even applied to kunoichi of prestigious clans, but Hinata was able to dodge these mission requests until she had reached the age of 16.

The Council figured out that the eldest daughter of the Hyuuga clan hadn't taken her required seduction mission, and called her to the Hokage's office to discuss it with her and Tsunade.

And she remembered it didn't end very well. By the end, Tsunade's desk was crushed into pieces, Koharu's face was stained red from all the yelling, and Homaru had more wrinkles creased into his forehead. Hinata was too frightened to even say anything during the whole meeting, and it was Tsunade who spoke and argued for her.

Even after all the arguing, it was a lost battle, and Tsunade was to assign the mission to Hinata immediately. After the elders left, Tsunade called for Shizune to summon Neji to go on the mission with Hinata.

"They never said anything about you not having back-up." Hinata smiled and thanked her.

That mission had her experience new things. After 16 years of living, Hinata had never:

Taken a sip of alcohol.

Visited a brothel

Cursed

After that mission, she had done all three. What a mess it had done upon her innocence.

"Hina—shit—Sonomi." Startled, Hinata jumped to her feet and ran to where their camp was.

"Yes?"

"We should start moving into Kumogakure." Hinata nodded.

* * *

><p>"Oh yes! They're have been so many uprisings recently! Civilians against ninjas, how reckless. Of course, I'M not a part of it, oh dear no. I don't want to get involved in that mess!" The old woman rambled. Sakura was resting her cheek on her palm, and mixing her tea with the other hand. She and Hinata had been in Kumogakure for a week and a half now where it was rumored to be having trouble with a few of their ninjas and civilians.<p>

Hinata had offered the woman her full attention, trying to be polite, despite the fact they already heard about the fights between citizens and ninjas.

Actually, this was their 7th time hearing this. Kumogakure was a big village, so news probably took a long time to get around. Apparently, it had just got to this woman a few days ago. From what they had gathered, a group of ninjas had attacked a few civilians and stolen a few of their items.

These ninjas weren't in any clothing that brought attention to themselves, but the men that were attacked all noticed something. The ninja all wore headbands that signified that they were from the Village Hidden by the Clouds.

The stolen items were the ashes of those cremated a week prior. They were being delivered to their clans.

Ever since the event occurred, many citizens shunned the ninja, not sure what to say or how to act in front of them. Then there were the few that came together to throw a riot against the ninja, which was what the woman was talking about.

The girls came in with intentions of finding out of whose ashes were stolen and what their significance was over the others that were left behind. Sadly, luck was not on their side, and they were sitting in a tea house, getting nowhere with this woman who didn't know when to stop talking.

"Oh, look at me, I'm babbling again. I'll leave you alone now. Just give a shout if you dears need anything!" When she was out of sight, Sakura let a loud, relieved sigh. Hinata giggled at her "cousin."

"Kami, I never thought she'd shut up," Sakura moaned, stretching her arms.

"It seems we've h-hit another dead end. P-Perhaps, we should move onto the next side of the village," Hinata suggested, taking a few sips of her Jasmine tea. It was her newest preference in tea; it had a nice subtle, refreshing taste that made her muscles relax.

"Yeah, right after we check out that place," Sakura said, pointing at a dango shop a few blocks away.

"There is never a wrong time for some dango, dearest Sonomi-chan." Sakura was already up on her feet, walking out the door after throwing a couple of bills that would cover the prices of both their drinks. Hinata took a last sip of her tea, thank the woman, and rushed out to catch up with Sakura.

"T-Tomoyo-chan, wait up!" She could spot the top of her partner's newly dyed red hair in the huge crowd, but was starting to lose sight of it. She squeezed her way through the crowd, apologizing as she went.

"Tomoyo-chan!" Her fingers grasped her hand or what she supposed was her hand. It was a rougher texture with more callouses than Sakura's hand had.

Suddenly, a man that was around 2-4 years older than her turned around with a confused look.

"Can I help you?" Hinata's face resembled a tomato in an instant.

"I-I'm sorry! I was trying to catch up to my cousin, and thought your red hair was hers." Sakura had recently cut her hair very short; it was a boyish style with bangs and layers.

"It's fine! Do you need help finding her? I can look for her if you want," the man said with a grin. He was at least a foot taller than her and would be able to locate Sakura easily.

"I-It's alright. I j-j-just need to know where the dango shop is. She w-was heading there." The man pointed to his right.

"Well, you're already here then." Hinata felt her face get hotter. She probably looked like a dark cherry at this point.

"You new here? Never seen you around before." Hinata nodded.

"Yes, I'm visiting a f-few places with my cousin before we settle down," Hinata paused, "My name is Kimura Sonomi! Nice to meet you!" Hinata caught herself before she did her usual bow for respect. It'd be too strange for her to do it here.

"Heh, I'm Sato Yukito," he held out his hand, which she took. When they met hands, Hinata felt a surge of chakra go through her body. Something was strange about this guy.

When he released her hand, she immediately focused on searching for chakra. She found other traces on the other sides of town, but nothing from the man standing in front of her.

"Since you two are unfamiliar with the village, you'll probably get lost. So if you two need a tour guide, just find me up there," he pointed up at the roof of the tea shop. He grinned, and left her, gracefully making his way through the crowd.

'Strange how a boy is more graceful than me,' Hinata thought to herself.

"Sonomi!" Hinata turned around to find Sakura handing her 3 sticks of dango out of the other 8 she was holding.

"H-How much did you get, Tomoyo?" The red haired girl shrugged, and chewed on the sweets.

"So, who has that kid I just saw you talking to?"

"His name is Sato Yukito. I ran into him, thinking it was you." Sakura smirked.

"Him?" Sakura exclaimed, "He's way taller than me! How cute, you think I'm that much taller than you?" After a few weeks of being stuck with each other, Sakura had developed this habit of occasionally teasing Hinata. She didn't mind it, but actually enjoyed that they were on a friendly teasing business with each other.

"N-No! You're not even that much taller than me!" Hinata exclaimed, "I was looking for your red hair, that's why."

"Okay, okay! Let's go back to the hotel now." This time, Sakura grabbed Hinata with her free hand and dragged her through the crowd.

* * *

><p>"Let me meet that Yukito guy tomorrow, Sonomi." Hinata nodded. They were climbing up flights of stairs to get to their room on the 5th floor.<p>

"Sure." Hinata couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something about him they should know. Apparently, Sakura had caught on to that feeling as well.

Once they had reached the same confinements of their room, Sakura began to talk.

"I know you're not the only one that noticed there was something off about him."

"Yes. I thought I could sense chakra coming from him when we shook hands, but when I tried sensing it, I found nothing." Sakura frowned.

"That's pretty weird. We should think of something tonight before we approach him tomorrow." Sakura crossed her arms, and looked out the window.

"I know it's weird, but I could've sworn that he admitted a chakra I'm familiar with. I can't put my finger on it, but I _know_ I've encountered that same chakra in the past." Now, it was Hinata's turn to frown.

"You don't think it has anything to do with our situation, do you?" Sakura was a loss of words.

"I don't see why there is any reason to not look into it." They both fell back onto their own beds. Sakura looked at the ceiling, counting how many cracks she could spot. Hinata closed her eyes, ready to pass out at any moment.

Both girls were confused on what their next move was.

They had been there for around 10 days, and learned very little about the big gossip that was going around in the village. They haven't had any leads, but this guy Hinata had run into was a start. If they both found something strange about him, it was most likely not something to ignore.

Sakura couldn't shake off that she felt a familiar presence from him. That's why she ran out with dango spilling out of her hands, only to spot Hinata talking with a red-haired man. She could've sworn that she felt Hinata's chakra flare in the slightest way, as if something shocked her when they shook hands.

She was frustrated that she couldn't figure out whose chakra it was. This would probably be the cause of her insomnia for the night.

With Hinata, she was confused about the surge she felt go through her body. She could've sworn it was a small bit of chakra that caused the shock.

And after, when she tried to feel any chakra coming from him, there was nothing. Hinata did admit she wasn't the strongest, but she had complete confidence in her chakra scanning skills. As a Hyuuga, it's one thing that came with her Byakugan: a knack for being able to find the slightest traces of chakra.

She wasn't known for hallucinating either, so she knew something was wrong.

Both girls didn't know what to expect next.

* * *

><p><strong>(1) Digital Root System is from one of my favorite DS games: 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors<br>So for this system, if you have a single-digit number: that's the digital root. If a number has more than one digit, you add all the digits together to get the digital root. yay.**

**Did you guys enjoy it ? Erk. I'm sorta feeling j;ladskjfakldfouadsi;ofjkl about this chapter. Please review :D **

**If any of you are confused, go ahead and ask me! As long as it doesn't spoil something, I'll answer it. **

**THANKS FOR READING. **


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